One truly a-maize-ing Halloween stunt

Today Pier 86 in Manhattan is bathed in water, a victim of the flooding from Hurricane Sandy that’s engulfed so much of New York City.

But last Thursday, before Sandy arrived, the pier played host to a very cool alternative media stunt, one that brought part of the country to the city.

You might even call it a-maize-ing.

The stunt was actually a 2,100-square-foot corn maze, the sort you might find behind a farm stand on a country road around Halloween time.

The difference with this maze was that it was located in downtown Manhattan.

The maze was constructed as part of a celebration of the 20th anniversary of “Goosebumps,” the hugely popular kids mystery series, which has been scaring children since 1992.

First “Goosebumps” author R.L. Stine gave a reading. Then kids walked through the maze, along the way encountering 20 spooky mysteries that they had to unravel in order find the solution to the “Goosebumps” story.

The michael alan group worked with “Goosebumps” publisher Scholastic on the stunt.

They imported 3,600 corn stalks from New Jersey and Pennsylvania to create the maze.

It took a week to construct the labyrinth, with most of the work being done in a studio. The finished project was then assembled on site in less than a day.

The stunt worked because it was a great attention grabber so close to Halloween. Though New Yorkers certainly enjoy many Halloween traditions, including carving pumpkins and trick or treating, it’s pretty difficult to find a corn maze in the city.

This one, in fact, was so unusual that it drew the attention of a number of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, which ran a picture of a third-grader in the maze last week, exposing the stunt to a huge audience.
 

Tags: alt media, alt media corn maze, alternative media, audience, corn maze, goosebumps, halloween, halloween alt media, hurricane sandy, kids, Manhattan, media, new york city, Scholastic, The Wall Street Journal, Though New Yorkers